Cruise Ship: Silversea Silver Cloud
Cruise Destination: North Africa -- Egypt and Libya
Cruise Dates: Spring 2005
Guest Contributor: Doug Eads
Alluring Libya: Before you begin reading past the first two sentences - close your eyes, and what can you imagine about Libya? In fact what do you imagine about North Africa?
In one's greatest imagination would you equate Libya with tourism? Would you envision Libya with lush green rolling lowland hills, valleys, and verdant croplands rising to mountains covered in tall evergreens? In our two days in Libya we did not once see the vast Sahara desert.
Would you expect to see multitudes of families caravanning by car, truck, and even buses out to wondrous azure coastal areas for day-long family picnics and camp-outs in this often misunderstood land still steeped in mystery? Would you expect throngs of school children waving to a tour bus? In my recent visit Libya exuded warmth with a welcoming gentle ambience.
Libya is "in from the cold" as the expression goes, and the doors are now open for tourism. But this alone is not a reason to go there. There are impressive historical preserves from bygone eras that you must see in this pristine, unspoiled setting before any commercialistic tourism with all its neon trappings inevitably develops.
Libya today is a world of wonderful smiling innocent faces, so welcoming, and I know you would love it! Libya is so new to tourism that souvenir hunters find it somewhat difficult to find any typical tourist wares and vendors for their must-do souvenir shopping! We found Libya on an outstanding cruising adventure sailing on the Silver Cloud, a luxury Silversea Cruise Line ship. The line is making a record 9 stops in Libya this season and is pleased with consumer comments and ratings.
Going to Libya: Self-drive and individual touring is not the best option for Libya at this time, however. Lodging and mechanical assistance for car issues is limited, and although highways are good, signs are not in dual languages. Plus, the Arabic alphabet is not conducive to easy interpretation. There are some land tour organizers operating, but for now I recommend the rather newly-opened cruise itineraries that stop at ports like Benghazi, Darna, and the modern capital of Tripoli.
We boarded the Silver Cloud in Port Said, Egypt recently, after spending 5 nights in Cairo to view its ancient wonders. This was a sold out cruise, and the passengers were quite pleased with this relatively new tourism destination. Today's discriminating well-traveled vacationers want new and more, and Libya fits this perfectly, offering a wide range of fresh experiences.
Cyrene: This wonderful Greek/Roman site was founded in 630 BC. It is vast, and still in the process of being excavated. Tourists can wander around today in this newly opened archeological site and may see artifacts poking from the sands or randomly scattered ornate mosaic tiles while viewing some of the best-preserved ruins anywhere.
The views from Cyrene of the nearby Mediterranean are magnificent, and we can easily imagine an ancient city with perhaps 100,000 inhabitants over hundreds of acres, from the lowland hills with a view to the sea. Visiting Libya by the Silversea Cruise Line schedule and itinerary is ideal, since the line is making nine stops in Libya this year and the upcoming season.
Cyrene was built on a series of levels, thus the spectacular ruins include the Sanctuary and Temple of Apollo, the Acropolis, the Agora, the Forum, the Stoa of Hermes and Heracles, the House of Jason Magnus, the Nine Muses and the not-to-be-missed Temple of Zeus, which looks like a more preserved Parthenon of the Acropolis in Athens.
Leptis Magna: Leptis Magna is a UNESCO World Heritage site and one of the best preserved and most significant Roman cities in the world. Founded by the Phoenicians in the 10th Century BC, it survived the attention of Spartan colonists, becoming a Punic city and eventually part of the new Roman province of Africa around 23 BC. As a Roman city it prospered, boasting Emperor Lucius Septimius Severus as one of its sons and benefactors.
Leptis Magna was defeated by a Berber tribe in 523 AD. The city was abandoned and quickly reclaimed by sea winds and desert sands. Unknown and hidden until the 1920's, it had been preserved like a time capsule. With improved political relations with Libya and now her budding tourism, you will be among the fortunate and honored to visit this little-known and sparsely visited, but immense and impressive archeological site. Rome's Forum seems to pale in comparison to both Cyrene and Leptis Magna, and these sites compare well with Turkey's Roman wonder, Ephesus, home of one of the original seven wonders of the world.
Page 2 > > More of Cruise Tour to Egypt and Libya on the Silver Cloud > >
